Zip cord is a good basic speaker wire which is cheap and widely available. But here are their shortcomings:

1. Susceptible to outside noise.
2. They radiate Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) into their surrounding since they carrying high power.
3. Inductance might be a problem for longer runs.

So is there a design that can over come above zip cord shortcomings? Sure is, and it is called Star Quad design.



Star quad is a 4 conductor design interwoven together uniformly(two for positive and two for negative). Because every conductor is located the same distance from the center, the opposing magnetic fields are canceled out so magnetic field radiation is attenuated greatly. Also due to 4-conductor style construction, the "loop area" between twists of the conductors are minimizes-thus reduces susceptibility to electromagnetically induced noise-and lower inductance.

Here is noise rejection capability of Star Quad design (Fig. 1) vs zip cord (Fig. 2)...noise was induced by coupled power cord.

Fig. 1

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Fig. 2


As it is evident above, Star quad is much superior in rejecting electrical noises. And throw in the fact that they radiate less electromagnetic to its surrounding, and have lower inductance than a zip cord, one can see why they are superior.

And they are not that expensive (only $1.00 a foot if buying by bulk). Canare 4s11 have 4x14AWG cable resulting in 11 AWG paired.